Subaru Impreza Engine Problems

Comments

Well that's a interesting view from those two dealers, considering what we see it here in Australia as a engine cleaner and amongst everything the total GOLD of engine fuels as why it is so costly here like $1.30 litre.

Did you try the fix that I suggested? My car started yet again today.....

I usually use regular unleaded gas. But lately I have been using BP regular unleaded gas,and the car engine wants to stall when it is idling. I wonder if I should use better gasoline? But so far my ignition problem has not happened since March, I have my fingers crossed! When I used Exxon regular unleaded gas, the car ran much better.

My car is a 2007 Subaru Impreza, 1.5 engine automatic. Maybe the key is not making a connection in the ignition. Have a tech take the steering column apart.

I have tried the key trick but I do not think that it helped me. I tried that last night and this morning I could not see any differences. One of my friend told me to do the same trick without pulling out the key. Turn the ignition key half way and lack and open the door by using ignition key and start the engine.

My car sometimes behaves like Claudettec's car. It happened a couple of times when I used the car first and the second day. May I ask the altitude of your cities. The altitute of Kars, the city I live, 1775 meter. So there is usually low air pressure here in summer and it is very cold in winter. I think the engine cannot adjust itself to this high altitude. My car starts fine at the sea level. I do not think that a key trick can solve my problem. :confuse:

Guys have you thought about putting this on other forums also to see the response?Seems to be across the board issue ranging in years for my problem, maybe some might be able to help you. www.wrx.com.au, I am pit_bull on there. This is the response I got from a user on there. Still similar to my problem, maybe there is no definate cure to ignition problems because Subaru will not answer the question. But now it reach's far back to 1998. Post below is what a user posted on there forum, the technical talk, if you do consider and have problems getting account email the admin. I am only trying to get you guys some serious help or ideas, anyhow onto the response from that site.

Unfortunately I can't give you a definite cause, but I've also experienced this issue on my Australian delivered MY98 which I purchased new in 1998. It only ever happened three times in the ten years I had the car, but on each occasion the car would turn over as normal but it would refuse to start. The first time it happened I simply left the car overnight and it started again the next morning. The next two occasions the car was taken to a mechanic familiar with WRXs who could find no error code on the ECU nor reason for the failure to start.

The second time I took the car to the mechanic (Cromwood Auto) they swapped the coolant sensor (on a hunch) and although the problem never appeared again (had the car for a further 3 years) the sensor was never confirmed as the cause.

Hopefully this might be helpful in some slight way. Good luck with the diagnosis.

Like I said my car has not misbehaved since March of 2009. I have read your problems, which seem worse than mine. Do you think it could be a computer glitch? I know a person who has a 2007 Toyota and it happened to him also. The car did the same thing mine did, and then it started! He called the dealer and they said it was a computer glitch. Of course, they could not get it to do it again at the dealership. Merogul, I don't know the altitude of the city of Pittsburgh. It is a very rocky and mountains here though. As far as error codes, I don't know what or where to find that on a Subaru.

I think the dealerships or techs are just guessing on what to do. As far as Subaru being rude to Australia, I would complain to a supervisor or manager.

I dare say have a look at the TSB listed on this site and sort threw them you maybe able to find yours Merogul and see if you have been lied to at all. Atleast this is a start in the right direction to more information.

Hi imprezaohno09,I have written some other forums related to Subaru. I have explained the problems of my car in detail. I have done some of the suggestions. However, nothing helped. Most people said that my car is a lemon and I should have sued them. I told the dealer in Turkey about coolant sensor. They said that the computer would have shown an error about it. Since I have already sued them I do not want to make any changes on the ignition system of my car.

Hi mprezaohno09,I have sent a fax to Japan about the difficulties I had been having with my car and the subaru dealer in Turkey. They are just sorry that I am having those problems and they said that the Subaru distributor in Turkey has all the means and responsibilities to help me. If that was the case, why had I bothered to send them a fax? I just think that they are ignorant and do not care. :mad:

Same kinda similar issue my friend, last night I constructed a letter to the dealership I purchased it from now the car is running I am asking why I was treated to such a delightful array of accusations that the USER was at fault now there is a Subaru Technial Service Bulletin stating problem with the immobilizer.

I dare say if you have done all the reading yeah, your 100% on the money, I just thought I would try my hardest to get on here and see what I could do to help you both, obviously claudette is fixed, I am just so sorry I could not do anything for you.

Would like to know that fax number if there was someway to get it to me, I was hunting japan and fuji industries last night but still could not get any contact details other than those of ones in Australia.

If you are to send the fax number to ardist@hotmaill.com that would be greatly appreciated, so it gives me at aleast 1 lead into Japan.

BUT it's the same attitude you faced I am facing, the computer never error'd so, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA what your talking about".

This is totally wrong approach to customers, as I have stated I have driven various cars, some have had unique problems that never showed up on the computer and also that the mechanic never detected.

I will be sending and creating various letters today, so wish me luck my friend.

Question about a subaru ea81 engine out of a rabbit somewhere between 82-89 model. i built a rock crawler and used this engine i can't get fuel to carb. put new fuel pump on it not it. you can put your hand over the intake and crank it that way. fuel want spray into carb. there is some wires on the carb but don't know were they go.i'm sure it's something simple but i'm not seeing it. help please

I have a few problems, can't get gas to carb. I put a new fuel pump on and still won't get to carb checked lines filters there someyhing im not seeing. Thier is some wires coming from the carb don't know were they go. Also i'm looking 4 a subaru brat auto trans, they only came on early model 1980s or so brat turbo. If anyone has one please let me know I think thenewer model suberu baja trans might bolt up if some one knows that please let me know. I have a EA81 motor and manual trans but im paralized and need an auto trans i'm building a rock crawler. thanks who ever can help

Specifically I'm wondering, if the Impreza and the Forester use the same boxer engine (in the non-turbo), why is it that there doesn't seem to be anywhere near the same number of head gasket complaints in the Impreza, as there are in the Forester?

Bought a new Impreza in June and currently only have 2400 miles on it. Within a month the car began pinging when starting in 1 and going into second. Now it is also doing it when going into third or going up hill. It only seems to happen when the car is warm. The dealer has confirmed the noise exists and the first time we brought it down, they said to try a higher octane fuel. We did that and it didn't help. Not to mention if I knew I had to spend more money for a high octane fuel to make it run correctly, I never would have purchased the car.

I have made a recording of the sounds and sent it to the dealership's service department and owner. Even though the sales manager and service manager have heard the noise, they now say they can't replicate it when they have it in the shop. The area service rep looked at it today and said that he can find nothing wrong with the car.

This is our fifth Subaru. We have bought 3 new ones in the last 8 years. Never have we experienced this before in any of the others. We are frustrated that the company is blowing us off. They told us that this is not a problem that anyone else is experiencing, but just a cursory search on the internet, I find that not to be true.

Has anyone else run into this problem. Would love to hear your stories and possible solutions to this. I really don't want to listen to this for as long as I own this car.

Yours is not the first I have heard of it, though I have not seen that there is any given fix developed yet. I suspect it could be resolved with an ECU reflash, but they must have the problem pinpointed and adjusted in the reflash or it is not going to make the car run any different afterward.

Merogul and Impreaono09. I know this is an old topic but I thought our Impreza was the only one having issues until recently.

From Australia here. Have an MY08 Impreza and having the starting issues also. The frustrating thing is it is completely random. Put in the key, leave it at ON until the needles finish sweeping across. Then turn the key and the car continues cranking. Tried the accelerator pedal too at the same time but no go.

Service techs (been to three different locations) have tested the fuel pump, sparks, throttle body (did the upper engine clean twice), crank sensor (and replace something there too), reset ecu. All this has been happening for the past 4 months. We've been back and forth to Subaru a good half dozen times.

It has failed to start in cold/hot/mild weather. Rain or shine. Day or night. It doesn't matter. The issues started occuring once a fortnight, then once a week and now it is very regular but still very random. The only thing we can connect it to is that it fails after a short trip. When we try to start up the car after about 15-30 mins of shopping it fails.

This is very frustrating as I have driven Subaru's for over 10 years and this is the first problem.

I feel the dealerships are only doing guesswork.I am now in talks with Subaru Australia hq to get some results. There is alot of ums and ahs in terms of solutions.

Just wondering (especially with imprezaohno09) if Subaru provided you with a proper solution.

I think it is a big slap in the face that they told you to start the car, you need to lock and unlock and then re-crank. That is absolutely ludicrous. If that is the case, they are admitting there is a fault and the car needs to be reset in order for it to start.

Interesting to note though recently when I was in the waiting room at the dealership there were two other people waiting for their car to be looked at. One had an MY10 Impreza that also had starting issues. One had an MY10 Forester diesel that also had starting issues. I will sure be making Subaru Australia aware of this.

Hi Max_slick,I am sorry that you have this annoying problem. My Subaru Impreza 2007, does not like cold and hot weather in my town. In summer, it starts great by the sea level. My town is very high in respect to altitude. In summer and noon time, the engine starts and sometimes stops by itself instantly. It takes 5 or 7 seconds to start to engine again. In winter, it does not start at all if the it is too cold. (Other cars in my neighborhood do not have this problem. They use the same gas.) I have sued the Subaru dealer and the distributer in Turkey. My car was sent to a government university. Two associate professors checked it and they say that my car is faulty and has a hardware problem. They could not say what the problem is and they say that only Subaru engineers can know it since they have all the codes of the engine. According to Turkish consumer law, I should win the case since it says that if the experts are saying that a merchandise is faulty, the dealer should accept the consumers' request stated in the law. I simply want my money back. I cannot write here the defense of the subaru dealer and the specifics of the case.

The subaru manual says that &#147;You should turn the ignition key at on position for 10 seconds before starting the engine for the first time if you have changed the battery. Otherwise, there might be engine starting problems.&#148; I wonder if our problems are related with this issue. Maybe, something wrong the electronic brain of this car. It does not know if it is cold or warm. It cannot adjust the air and gas blend. Sometimes, the mixture is too rich with gas and the engine chokes. I hope Subaru takes some responsibility like Toyota and does something about it.

That is very interesting. My 1996 Subaru Outback would do that same thing if you tried to start it after it only being off for ~30 minutes or less. I could crank it until the battery died and it wouldn't start if it was doing this. I would try it for about 3 seconds (just beyond the normal starting pattern) and if it did not start, just sit and wait five minutes and try again. Usually within 5 to 45 minutes, it would start normally and work just fine until the same conditions were met again. Most of the time it would start even when the conditions were met, but randomly it would not. I am guessing that it happened probably 5-6 times per month, maybe as many as a dozen if we happened to do a lot of "errand" driving. During a Fairbanks winter at -40, though, sitting in a car for 30 minutes waiting for it to start was downright bone-chilling!

At one point after owning the car about four years, my knock sensor failed so I replaced it and the crank + camshaft sensors at the same time. After that (another two+ years of owning it), I never again had the failure-to-start problem, but I still have no idea why this is the case.

I don't mean to suggest that this is what is causing your problem, but I used to notice a noise that I described at "pinging" with my stick-shift 07 na impreza. I would tend to notice the sound, which was metallic and very quick sounding, kind of like jingling keys, right around the time I would shift from 1st to 2nd...

I began to notice that it operated independent of shifting, it was just when my rpms would get to something like 3k+ rpm and the "tinging" would increase with rpms...

I hope your problems are the same as mine wound up being. Long story short. It drove me crazy and I pulled up the shift boot and reached down along the metal arm that connects the stick to the transmission...

there was a dime, a quarter, two pennies, and a bobby-pin that would vibrate on that metal rod...

Should be under warranty, then. Let us know how it plays out...my money's on the head gaskets.

They finally changed the block design to more permanently address the head gasket issues. The newer FB25 block in the 2011 Forester and FB20 in the upcoming 2012 Impreza have separate coolant lines for the heads and block, so no coolant even flows through the new gaskets.

It was common up until 2002 or so, less common but still happens on the later EJ25 motors.

It's possible it has a blown head gasket but head gaskets don't knock.

I heard it run and it definatly has rod bearing trouble. I just hope they don't plan on doing a patch job.

Even when it was new, it (to me) sounded a bit loose but I figured it was because of the boxer design.

All in all, it's been a disappointment. We were surprised to see how bad it was when it snowed for the first time! It was downright scary until he put on a set of Blizzack tires which made a huge difference. It is also so cramped inside.